[No bill for Taxe d'Habitation]

We bought  our house in 2004. We pay fonciere, and have completed

an impot return, but still not taxe d'hab for us either! I have emailed

and written to them, both last year and this!! Once we receive a bill I

set up a 'direct debit' equivalent and all is fine.

[marketing - amount?]

hi!  What does the forum think is a reasonable return on

investment - ie cost of advertisement - to entice them to renew? 

For example having done my stats for the year, only got 1 new booking

from FC, but in total I got 28 days rental from them. Which was nice.

I had a selection of advertisers this year, but most of their enquiries were for August, and I was already booked.

Your thoughts please!!

Thanks

[thrilled - junk mail]

Lidl emails - indeed, very green!!

I've never actually ridden a Lidl bike . . .  I've still got my old Raleigh, still remember with a chuckle the expression on the 'Douane Francais' when they saw it in the boot of the car . . . . probably thought it was an antique!!!

[thrilled - junk mail]

Cassis - true, we'd never have got our bargain bikes from LIDLs without

the flyer!!!! We did have a telemarketing call once - that was funny as

moh answered and his french, bless, is not good. Very meanly I picked

up our other phone for a giggle - never did find our what they were

trying to sell!![;-)]

[Taxe d'Habitation - late?]

jpe - that's very interesting. Now I've just done a search of the

forum, and I think I'm confused. Our french home is our only home in

France, but we live in the UK. I have declared our French income, which

is some rental, and is very little. So will I recieve only a small taxe

d'hab bill? As we've owned our house for 2 years, and not recieved a

bill, will I not get one? I can see a visit coming on - I can't

understand much French over the phone!!!

[thrilled - junk mail]

moh gets to talk to all our callers who feel obligated to show us the

error of our ways - and funnily enough the longest lasted 2 minutes.

His secret - he is, and tells them he is  . . . catholic. (I am

not and we have lots of respectful heated debate about various things)

So I have often wondered what must be said in their training plans

about the various sorts of 'victim' they will meet. Hey ho.

Another good way of reducing junk mail shots ( in the UK) apart from

that postman's suggestion of registering with the Junk Mail avoidance

service, is to live in the sticks  . . . whilst we get stuff from

our postie, no-one else can be bothered.[:)] no stamina!!

[Handholding add-ons]

oh yes - I do irony, every sunday night . . . . as you say, you had to be there!!![:D]

[Handholding add-ons]

now I never do ironing in the UK, but do in France. No - I'm not

ashamed to be seen crumpled in the home of haute couture . . . .

.  it's just that a vat of Kir helps the ironing go down . . . .[6]

[Skiing from St Tropez]

Told hubby, but he's being boring and wants to ski in Europe, and

travel by coach not fighter plane . . .  thanks for the

suggestions, keep them coming!!

[thrilled - junk mail]

Gosh - thanks all! I've even more to look forward to!![:P]

[thrilled - junk mail]

Hi. I am thrilled to have received a credit card application in our post box!!! [;-)] It got me thinking - does the ubiquitous (sp) Readers Digest - you are a winner - draw, occur in France? [8-)]

[Bank account in france]

Britline serve our purposes as second home owners well. We opened the

account well before we had purchased and use the on-line service all

the time.

You could try Barclays but when we wanted an account, they made it very difficult and we are Barclays UK customers!! [:D]

[taxes]

I need to change mine too, there is an email address - do they take any

notice of this? Or will it have to be registered post? thanks too

[Skiing from St Tropez]

Dear all

With your local knowledge is there anywhere moh and I could combine his

desire for skiing with mine for warmth and no snow, and we could go on

holiday together? I don't know if there's a regular bus to the slopes?

thanks as ever!![:D]

[Taxe d'Habitation - late?]

It is indeed the potential size - we haven't had one yet!!! [:D]

[Taxe d'Habitation - late?]

ah gawd - still not received ours in  Manche . . . . .

[The Earth]

Cassis - thanks for that . . .  another joke I'll only ever

remember part of . . . . . and I think it shows others our age!!!

[;-)][:$] I think this must be like an office I once worked in, when it

was noticed no mirrors in the Loos, I observed that they were not

needed as accountants have no reflection   . . . . . . . . .

. .

[The Earth]

I thought it was microphone [:$] and I don't exist  . . .  'I

think therefore I am' or 'doubie, doubie doo' (A punchline for a joke I

can no longer remember)

[Taxe d'Habitation - late?]

Redmike,

Where are you? We are in Manche, 50, and haven't received ours yet.

Ho hum - hope it hasn't gone to the cottage instead of our UK address [8-)]

[Transferring funds from UK]

This is very interesting - CA charged me €2.75 (I think) to received a

Euro payment with full IBAN from the Netherlands this summer. When I

complained they said it was for the letter of notification. I said I

didn't want a letter as I could check online, but basically got told

'tough'.

So I shouldn't have been charged?

[Living in Normandy]

It is a shame, but hopefully a quieter Percy will encourage other

businesses. I love the town - had many a lovely chocolat and bought

some lovely bowls there.  It is difficult when a by-pass is built,

but I do believe that eventually it is a benefit. But I know, not

always!!

[Electric heating]

You 'PM'd' me instead of post, no problems!! [:D]

[Electric heating]

We have what were described as 'electric to radiators', to me they are

electric wall heaters. ( not fan heaters) We had guests who used them

for a week in February and the bill was for one month more than the

rest of the year. They are very expensive!! When we are there

we have them on 'frost' setting, and use a wood burning stove, which is

very efficient! In the UK my Mum has underfloor electric heating. It is

very efficient - quite good value on the Economy 7 tariff, but it is

not very controlable as it takes a little while to warm up, and if you

have a not day, you can't really turn it down. But as background with

another source it is great. I would rule out looking at a property, we

wanted central heating, but we manage fine - it's just a change of

style!

Edit - doh, I meant I wouldn't rule out - sorry

[Living in Normandy]

You are spot on Dick and

Llwyncelyn,

I feel like you that it is very much 'half full' and learning from the

things that don't go quite as we want. (And being a Cornish girl there

will never be any where as great as that!!!)[;-)]

[Living in Normandy]

We saw many rural cottages that I wanted to buy. But moh had a list and

one of the items on it was walking distance to church and bars. And I

am so very pleased he didn't let me buy the first place we had seen!!

We ended up buying on the edge of a small town, we are the last house

so are surrounded by fields, but 2 mins down the road is the High

Street. Many of the bar owners and shopkeepers know us, watch out for

the cottage, and are very helpful - we are so very lucky. We think it

is perfect - and less than an hour to Cherbourg. In fact the road trip,

door to door, is less than an hour!!  [:D]